The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording and reproducing data onto and from a recording medium by means of a head element provided to a slider running on the recording medium, and in particular, to a slider which can reduce the gap between a head element mounted thereon and a recording medium, and to a recording apparatus installed thereon with the slider.
As disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. H11-86483 (refer in particular to FIG. 10 of the accompanying drawings), a conventional slider is formed on its air bearing surface with pads having step parts and located at positions in the vicinities of its air inflow end and its air outflow end, respectively, and a step part of the pad formed in the vicinity of the air inflow end is higher than a step part of the pad formed in the vicinity of the air outflow end. An object of this conventional technology is to minimize the scrape-up of lubricant on a magnetic disc, caused by the pads, in order to prevent the frictional force and the adhesion which are effected between the slider and the surface of the magnetic disc, from increasing.
By the way, these days, there has been a greatest demand of increasing the recording density of a recoding apparatuses. In order to increase the recording density, the area of the so-called bit, or the minimum unit area for recording and reproduction should be reduced. Accordingly, it is required to reduce the gap between a head element mounted on a slider, for recording and reproduction, and the surface of a recording medium. It is required to reduce the gap between the head element and the surface of the recoding medium to a value less than 5 nm in order to increase the recording density up to 100 Gb/in2. Accordingly, it is indispensable to materialize a slider which can keep its head element making contact with the surface of the recording medium with no separation therebetween.
However, the above-mentioned conventional slider has a head element which is not provided on the top of a pad but on the air bearing surface thereof, and accordingly, the gap between the head element and the surface of the recording medium cannot be reduced to a value substantially smaller than the height of the pad. Thus, there has been offered such a problem that the head element cannot be made into contact with the surface of the recording medium.
Further, in the above-mentioned conventional slider, a stepped surface which is defined by the step part of the pad, extends in the same direction as that of the surface of the recording medium, that is, it is not opposed to the surface of the recording medium, and accordingly, the pad located in the vicinity of the fluid outflow end, cannot be attracted toward the surface of the recording medium by a meniscus attraction force of lubricant even though the pad has a stepped part having a low height. Accordingly, the top part of the pad jumps on the surface of the recording medium, as a result, there has been such a problem that separation of the head element from the surface of the recording medium cannot be prevented. Further, even a pad located in the vicinity of the inflow end and having a high stepped part cannot be floated up in a non-contact state since action by an air step bearing is present. Thus, there has been also such a problem that a large friction force acting upon the top part of the pad on which the head element is not mounted, and abrasion and damage of the top of the pad cannot be prevented from being caused.
The present invention is devised in order to solve at least one of the above-mentioned problem, and accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a slider which enables a head element mounted thereon to substantially make contact with a recording medium, and which can stably maintain the contact between the head element and the recording medium. Further, another object of the present invention is to provide a slider which can prevent occurrence of a large friction force between the slider and the surface of a recording medium, and abrasion and damage thereof.
The above-mentioned object can be attained by such an arrangement that a first and a second pad (projection parts) each having a bearing surface as a top surface and a stepped surface defined by a stepped part recessed from the bearing surface, and opposed to the recording medium, are formed on the surface of the slider which is opposed to the recording medium, and a head element is provided to the second pad while the step part on the second pad is lower than that of the stepped part on the first pad.
Detailed Explanation will be hereinbelow made of the present invention in the form of preferred embodiments to which the present invention should not be limited, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: